May 24, 2025: Donald Trump presidency news

Our live coverage of Donald Trump’s presidency has moved here.

President Donald Trump addressed graduates at the US Military Academy in West Point, New York, this morning, making his second college commencement speech of the year.

It came as his administration scours the country’s military academies for course offerings, clubs and books deemed unsuitable under Trump’s anti-DEI initiatives. The president is also overseeing a wider shake-up of the Pentagon and the national security establishment.

If you missed the speech, here are some key takeaways:

Getting political: Trump didn’t shy away from playing politics and addressing controversial topics during his speech to the cadets.

Trump said that by banning diversity initiatives and transgender people from serving in the military, he was helping “liberate” the troops.

“We’ve liberated our troops from divisive and demeaning political trainings,” Trump said. “There will be no more ‘critical race theory’ or ‘transgender for everybody’ forced onto our brave men and women in uniform.”

Trump also slammed military readiness under his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, and claimed he had “rebuilt” the nation’s armed forces.

Touting US military prowess: The president called the graduates “winners” and congratulated them on joining “the greatest and most powerful army the world has ever known.”

Trump’s “Golden Dome”: Trump again claimed that a “Golden Dome” missile defense system will be complete before he leaves office.

Experts have told CNN the president’s vision for a cutting-edge missile shield to protect from long-range strikes — inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome but intended to protect a country about 450 times larger — is economically and strategically ill-advised.

Lighter moments: The president brought multiple cadets onstage to celebrate their accomplishments, including Army Golden Knights quarterback Bryson Daily and Chris Verdugo, a cadet who set a record in a grueling 18.5-mile march.

Trump also issued a pardon for all West Point cadets on restriction for minor offenses, continuing a longstanding tradition of presidents who deliver the commencement address.

The sun sets on buildings in the Journal Square neighborhood of Jersey City, behind Hoboken, New Jersey, as seen from the observation deck of the Empire State Building in New York on May 20.

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against four sanctuary cities in New Jersey, arguing their protections for undocumented immigrants are illegal.

The four cities being sued are Newark, Jersey City, Patterson and Hoboken. Like other sanctuary cities, these four jurisdictions have policies in place that limit their cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

The suit comes as the Trump administration aggressively cracks down on immigration, including efforts to use a wartime power to deport undocumented migrants and sending troops to the southern US border.

Shortly after President Donald Trump returned to the White House, the administration filed similar lawsuits against state officials in New York and Illinois, including Chicago.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka slammed Thursday’s lawsuit as “absurd.”

Baraka was recently detained and charged with federal trespassing during a chaotic melee that erupted outside of an ICE detention facility in his city earlier this month. The charge was dropped Tuesday.

Thomas Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria, met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa today, after the Trump administration issued orders to begin easing sanctions on the war-torn Middle Eastern country.

Barrack said in a statement that the “historic” meeting was at President Donald Trump’s direction to “provide a path for peace and prosperity in Syria.” The envoy said the two countries would move to put sanctions “far behind us” and “drive forward, quickly, with investment, development, and worldwide branding of a new, welcoming Syria.”

Some context: Trump officials began exploring sanctions relief after former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell in December, following decades of brutal rule.

But Trump’s surprise announcement to lift sanctions during his Middle East trip earlier this month left officials scrambling to implement the decision, sources told CNN.

The US Treasury Department said yesterday that it had taken some of its first steps to ease existing sanctions.

CNN’s Alex Stambaugh, Betsy Klein, Jennifer Hansler and Hira Humayun contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump addresses graduates of the US Military Academy at West Point in New York on Saturday.

President Donald Trump praised his administration’s efforts to ban diversity initiatives and transgender people from serving in the military during his commencement address at West Point this morning.

“Promotions and appointments will not be based on politics or identity. They’ll be based on merit,” the president said. “We’re a merit-based country again.”

At West Point, a number of affinity groups have been disbanded as a result of Trump’s crackdown on DEI programs, including the Society of Black Engineers and the Latin Cultural Club. At other service academies, books deemed in violation of Trump’s anti-DEI directives have been pulled from the library.

Trump also mentioned his efforts to ban transgender women from playing in women’s sports, calling their participation “ridiculous” and “demeaning to women.”

President Donald Trump pardoned all West Point cadets on restriction for minor offenses, continuing a longstanding tradition of presidents who deliver the commencement address at the US Military Academy.

Cheers and laughter broke out as the cadets stood up.

Saying he wanted everyone to leave with a “clean slate,” Trump announced: “In keeping with tradition, I hereby pardon all cadets on restriction for minor conduct offenses, effective immediately.”

Last year, when then-President Joe Biden delivered the commencement address at West Point, he gave cadets the same courtesy.

President Donald Trump stands with cadet Chris Verdugo during the commencement ceremony at West Point Military Academy on Saturday.

President Donald Trump brought multiple West Point graduates onstage with him at different points during his commencement speech, highlighting their achievements, including a cadet who beat the record for a grueling 18.5-mile march and the quarterback of the US Army football team.

“This class excelled not only mentally but physically. Last January, when more than 1,000 cadets volunteered for an 18.5-mile march on a freezing winter night, Cadet Chris Verdugo completed the task in 2 hours and 30 minutes flat, smashing the international record for the competition by 13 minutes,” Trump said.

“Where is he?” the president asked, inviting Verdugo to join him as the audience roared.

The cadet shook hands with Trump, smiling and laughing, and stepped up to the podium at Trump’s urging. “It’s been a long five years, but I could not have done it without any of these guys,” Verdugo said.

Trump also brought up Bryson Daily, the Black Knights’ quarterback.

“This year, the Black Knights bought your way into the top 20 nationally and racked up your longest winning streak since 1949 with the help of graduating quarterback Cadet Bryson Daily, or as you call him, Captain America,” Trump said. “We gotta get him up here right? C’mon Bryson.”

Daily said, “Go Army football” and shook Trump’s hand, giving the president a salute.

Trump gave many other shoutouts during the address, including to the Rhodes Scholars and the men’s lacrosse team. Trump also called out the first two women in West Point history to complete divers’ school, asking them to stand.

President Donald Trump said during his commencement address at West Point this morning that a “Golden Dome” missile defense system will be complete before he leaves office, reaffirming the plan he unveiled earlier this week.

“We’re building the Golden Dome missile defense shield to protect our homeland and to protect West Point from attack,” Trump said. “And it will be completed before I leave office.”

Trump first said Tuesday that the project — which is his vision for a cutting-edge missile shield that can protect the US from long-range strikes — will be complete within the next three years, announcing that the administration had “selected an architecture for this state-of-the-art system.”

Key context: The administration has remained vague on its plans for developing the missile shield, which is expected to cost about $175 billion.

While it takes inspiration from Israel’s Iron Dome, Trump’s aim is to build a space-based system that is capable of defending a country around 450 times larger from advanced ballistic and hypersonic missiles. Experts have doubted the economic and strategic feasibility of such a plan.

CNN’s Jessie Yeung and Maureen Chowdhury contributed to this report.

United States Military Academy graduating cadets line up during commencement ceremonies at West Point in New York on Saturday.

President Donald Trump congratulated the graduates at the US Military Academy at the start of his commencement address in West Point, New York, calling each of them “winners.”

“And I know because I rebuilt that army, and I rebuilt the military,” Trump claimed.

“The military’s job is to dominate any foe and annihilate any threat to America anywhere, anytime and anyplace. A big part of that job is to be respected again,” the president added. “And you are, as of right now, respected more than any army anywhere in the world.”

Trump also took a moment to honor the veterans at the ceremony, including the parents of graduates.

“Moms and dads: Nearly a third of the cadets graduating today are, themselves, the children of veterans. So to everyone with us this morning who served America in uniform, no matter your age, please stand so we can salute your service,” Trump said.

Trump thanked faculty, staff and graduates for their “outstanding devotion.”

CNN’s Kaanita Iyer contributed reporting to this post.

President Donald Trump delivers the commencement address at West Point in New York on Saturday.

President Donald Trump has begun his commencement address at the US Military Academy in West Point, New York.

The speech comes after Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed a sweeping effort to scour the country’s military academies for course offerings, clubs and books deemed unsuitable under the administration’s anti-DEI initiatives.

The president is also overseeing a wider shake-up of the Pentagon and the country’s national security establishment.

The class Trump is speaking to represents a diverse group of newly commissioned second lieutenants. According to West Point, 252 are women — including the valedictorian, Joanna K. Halfhill. It’s the 45th anniversary of the first class to graduate women.

CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.

Iran is disappointed with the progress of nuclear talks with the United States and is considering a “Plan B” if they fail, a senior Iranian lawmaker told CNN.

Ebrahim Rezaei, a member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said officials get “more disappointed” after each round of negotiations, particularly around the issue of uranium enrichment, which has emerged as a red line in the talks. Uranium can be used to build a bomb if enriched to high levels.

He did not specify what Plan B might entail.

Rezaei was speaking the day after the fifth round of indirect talks in Rome between the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff.

A senior Trump administration official said Friday that talks “continue to be constructive” and that progress was made, adding that both sides agreed to meet “in the near future.”

Witkoff said last week that the US had “one very, very clear red line, and that is enrichment. We cannot allow even 1% of an enrichment capability … because enrichment enables weaponization.”

Rezaei told CNN that “if these are the real words of the American aide and they say the same in the negotiations, I can already say that the talks are doomed to fail.”

An American flag is raised prior to President Donald Trump addressing graduates at West Point on Saturday.

Often when a president makes an annual commencement address at a US military service academy, it’s an opportunity to discuss the national security environment the graduating class, all newly commissioned officers, will be entering when they leave.

As President Donald Trump stands on stage about to address the US Military Academy in West Point, New York, he has plenty to discuss in front of the 1,002 graduates — global conflicts, new investments in the military and his efforts to maintain “peace through strength.”

Still, an undeniable backdrop to this year’s speech is Trump’s crackdown on diversity initiatives across the military and higher education, which have coincided at institutions like West Point.

Trump’s crackdown on DEI programs has played out on the campus here in New York’s Hudson Valley over the last several months.

A number of affinity groups have been disbanded, including the Society of Black Engineers and the Latin Cultural Club. At other service academies, books deemed in violation of Trump’s anti-DEI directives have been pulled from the library.

The White House and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth say they are making the military more lethal and focused on its core mission of warfighting.

It’s all caused an enormous amount of consternation, and at least one professor at West Point has resigned. There are protests expected near campus today, including in boats on the Hudson River beneath campus.

The last time President Donald Trump addressed graduates at the US Military Academy in 2020, his appearance was punctuated by an awkward, unsteady descent down a ramp that raised questions about his physical well-being.

This morning, as Trump returns to West Point, two long ramps remain in place in front of the podium. But this year, a handrail has been installed on one side.

At the time, Trump issued an ardent defense of his halting walk down the ramp, where he stepped gingerly to get ground level.

In a tweet, Trump insisted the slope was “very long & steep, had no handrail and, most importantly, was very slippery,” though it had not rained beforehand and others were seen walking normally down the decline.

With the handrail in place, Trump may be able to avoid the questions this time around.

Entering the weekend, we’re tracking the latest on President Donald Trump’s ever-evolving trade policy, particularly his threat of 50% tariffs on the European Union and 25% levies on cellphone makers that manufacture their products outside the US.

We’ll also have updates on the president’s speech at the US Military Academy commencement later this morning in West Point, New York.

Use the links below to get up to speed on our other recent coverage:

• Legal battle with Harvard: A federal judge has temporarily halted the Trump administration’s ban on Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students, marking the latest development in a battle over the elite institution’s refusal to accept White House policy demands. International students at the school say they are experiencing “pure panic” as they await an outcome.

• Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”: After intense lobbying by Trump, GOP infighting and an all-nighter, House Republicans advanced their sweeping tax cuts and spending package this week. Analysts say low-income Americans will feel the effect of aid cuts, while wealthy Americans will see a windfall if the package advances through the Senate in a similar form.

• National Security Council ousters: The administration has put more than 100 officials at the National Security Council on administrative leave as part of a restructuring under interim national security adviser and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, sources told CNN yesterday.

• Another wrongfully deported migrant: The administration has been ordered to facilitate the return of a Guatemalan man who was wrongly deported to Mexico in February, after he told authorities about his fears of violence and torture across the border. This is at least the third time a judge has ordered the return of a migrant wrongfully deported under Trump’s immigration crackdown.

• Sanctions on Syria: The administration issued orders yesterday to begin easing sanctions on Syria, marking a major policy shift after Trump pledged earlier this month to roll back the measures during a trip to the Middle East.

President Donald Trump arrives at West Point Military Academy in West Point, New York, on Saturday.

President Donald Trump has arrived in West Point, New York, where he will deliver the commencement address at the US Military Academy around 10:15 a.m. ET.

This will be the second commencement address Trump delivers this spring. The first was at the University of Alabama — where he wasn’t shy about getting political, inflating the margin of his 2024 win in the state and criticizing former President Joe Biden’s administration.

EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič addresses the media in Brussels on May 15.

A trade deal between the European Union and the US must be based on “mutual respect, and not threats,” the EU’s trade chief said, after President Donald Trump threatened the bloc with a 50% tariff.

“The EU’s fully engaged, committed to securing a deal that works for both,” Maroš Šefčovič wrote in a post on X yesterday after a call with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, adding that the European Commission “remains ready to work in good faith.”

However, he said, EU-US trade “must be guided by mutual respect, not threats.”

“We stand ready to defend our interests,” Šefčovič added.

Some context: Trump raised the prospect of the 50% tariff on goods from the EU yesterday, citing a lack of progress in trade negotiations.

The tariff Trump is considering slapping on the EU is more than double the size of the 20% initial “reciprocal” tariff that was briefly in place in April before he swiftly paused those tariffs to allow for further negotiations.

In a post on Truth Social, the president said he took particular issue with “non-monetary trade barriers,” as he has repeatedly called them, as well as countries or trading blocs that run trade deficits with the US. Those occur when the US purchases more from another trading partner than that country purchases from the US.

CNN’s Elisabeth Buchwald contributed reporting to this post.

President Donald Trump issued a pair of new threats in his ever-evolving trade policy yesterday, taking aim at the European Union and cellphone makers.

Here are the two key tariff headlines entering the weekend:

Trade demands for the EU: The president has threatened a 50% tariff on goods from the European Union, citing a lack of progress in negotiations and policies he says are contributing to an unacceptable trade deficit with the bloc.

During an executive order signing in the Oval Office later that day, Trump escalated his message: “I’m not looking for a deal,” he said. “We’ve set the deal — it’s at 50%.”

Trump did open the door to pushing his June 1 deadline further, however, and his tariff threats have repeatedly been followed by reversals and delays.

Ultimatum for smartphone makers: Trump also demanded yesterday that Apple and other smartphone makers like Samsung make their phones in the US or face a 25% tariff.

“I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S.”

Trump later told reporters in the Oval Office that the tariff would apply to any phone maker selling devices in the US, calling out Samsung by name.

The threat comes after Trump expressed displeasure last week that Apple plans to manufacture iPhones for sale in the US at newly built plants in India.

In another busy week, President Donald Trump met at the Oval Office with the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and tracked Republican efforts to get his sweeping tax and spending cuts package through Congress.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins debriefs on the past few days at the White House:

Video Ad Feedback

From visit by Ramaphosa to a sit down with RFK Jr: Kaitlan Collins debriefs week at the White House

03:27 • Source: CNN